SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Not quite a month ago, Matt Bush was convinced his improbable comeback had authored another incredible chapter. 'No doubt' he was a starting pitcher, he said. No looking back, either.

Four days ago, he checked over his shoulder.

By Monday morning, he had his mind right.

"I'm very happy," he said about his return to the bullpen. "I get to go back to doing what I know how to do. I feel like we have a great team this year.

"Plenty of very good starters."

Matt Bush on going back to the bullpen: 'I'm very happy going back to doing what I know how to do'

Believe what you will regarding any of the above, but know this: Bush really is better off in the bullpen, as are the Rangers, and the sooner all parties move on, the better.

Returning Bush to what he does best doesn't exactly fix what's wrong with this staff. Ten moves might not be enough. But after three unconvincing starts, combined with the efficiency of Bartolo Colon and uncertainty about Keone Kela's shoulder, Bush needed a decision as much as the Rangers needed a sure thing somewhere. Anywhere.

With less than three weeks until opening day, the Rangers have yet to:

1. Identify a closer, either on their premises or anyone else's.

2. Figure out the relay leading up to the closer.

3. Determine if Martin Perez will be ready for the opener.

4. Spell out what comes after Cole Hamels.

This is not to say they don't have plenty of options. They have pitchers of all kinds here. They are old (Colon, 44) and young (Yohander Mendez, 23), tall (Doug Fister, 6-8) and short (Bush, 5-9), accomplished (Tim Lincecum, two Cy Youngs) and promising (Jose Leclerc, two wins), stout (Colon again) and elfin (Lincecum again) and everything in between.

They are so new, and so many, that they need names on the fronts of their jerseys, too. A couple of days ago, Matt Moore, one of the high-profile reclamation projects, worked a few solid innings against minor leaguers on a back field. The first guy he faced, Leody Taveras, crown jewel of the farm system, tripled on a 3-2 pitch.

Asked later in the big league clubhouse if he had any idea who Taveras was, Moore practically apologized.

"I don't even know everybody in here yet," he said.

From the standpoint of story lines, you should pull for Colon and Lincecum. Not since Charlie Hough's offerings fluttered fitfully have I seen a pitcher so unflappable in the face of imminent danger. Colon doesn't pitch, he plays chicken. And it's not as if he's an insignificant target, either.

As for Lincecum, rarely in the vast annals of baseball has so much talent been squeezed from so small a container. Now, I'm no mathematician, but if you were able to achieve a similar level of efficiency from the likes of someone the size of Fister, you'd need Kevlar to stop his fastball.

Getting back to the original point -- and I know you were wondering if we'd ever get there -- Bush makes seven relievers the Rangers have tried to make into starters. It's a checkered history. The successes of Scott Feldman, C.J. Wilson and Alexi Ogando -- at least until they tried undoing the last -- recede into history. Smoke from the fires of Neftali Feliz, Tanner Scheppers and Robbie Ross remain visible.

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The lessons learned from those experiments, Jon Daniels told us this winter, were simple. Better to give someone desperate the opportunity than talk a guy into it.

But as multitudes could tell you, desire isn't always enough, even if you've got a 98-mph fastball and a drop-dead curve. Two plus pitches may be plenty for the bullpen, but it's at least one short for the rotation.

Bush could see it coming in his last start, when they asked him to work from the stretch instead of the wind-up. The fact that he threw only 43 pitches was another.

On Friday, he was upset, and he showed it. Hard to give up on a dream. He wanted badly to be a starter and worked hard for it.

On the other hand, there are worse ways to make a living than come out of a bullpen for a couple of innings twice a week. Jeff Banister is counting on him to be a bridge reliever, the type to rescue failed starters. As Andrew Miller has proved, these types are often as important as closers.

Coming into a clean ninth inning isn't for the faint of heart, but what's so great about a mess someone else left for you earlier?

"In today's games and situations," Banister said, "The game is in the balance in the sixth inning."

The Rangers think they have just the man to solve that situation. As for the rest, well, let's be polite and say it remains a work in progress.